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sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2019.The Daily News of TV Sales Thursday, January 16, 2020

BANK OF AMERICA SEES POSSIBLE 5% GROWTH Retail sales were strong in December, and for the holiday shopping period they could be up close to 5 percent, slightly better than other industry forecasts, according to Bank of America economists, CNBC reports. Using BofA aggregated credit and debit card data, BofA securities economists said December sales increased 0.3 percent over the month earlier and 3.2 percent year-over-year. The economists expect to see a similar 0.3 percent gain in Census Bureau retail sales when they are reported today. “Assuming our forecast is correct, Census Bureau holiday sales, which are defined as retail ex-auto and gas for November and December combined, would reveal a 4.7 percent year-over-year gain. The consumer was happy to spend at the end of 2019, kicking off 2020 on a good note,” the economists wrote. The closely watched National Retail Federation expects 2019 holiday sales were up between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent over the year earlier. BofA economists said the sales increase over last December was especially large because consumers pulled back in 2018, when the stock market was collapsing and shoppers felt the sting of a negative wealth shock. That also coincided with the government shutdown. Retail sales, excluding autos, fell 1 percent month-over-month in December 2018, and the weakness was most apparent in online retailers, which sprang back with a 15.4 percent gain in 2019, according to BofA data. “In our view, discretionary spending is largely done online, which means investors should focus on online retailers to understand the propensity for fluctuations in spending,” the BofA economists noted. At the same time, spending at department stores in December contracted on both a monthly basis and year-over-year basis for a third month. Year-over-year spending has been negative since May and is now at negative 2.9 percent. For the month, department store sales dropped 0.6 percent. Other areas that showed declines were home improvement, off 1.5 percent in December, and home goods, off 1.6 percent. The lowest income group, with annual household income lower than $20,000, continued to lead in spending growth. The three-month moving average for the income group was up 4.7 percent year-over-year. BofA economists said the gap in spending growth between low- and high-income groups has widened since 2018, most likely because wages are rising more rapidly for lower paid workers. Another trend was softness in grocery spending. Grocery store sales were flat in December, while BofA cardholders increased spending at restaurants by 0.6 percent in December.

HOLIDAY SALES MAY NOT HAVE BEEN SO BAD AFTER ALLADVERTISER NEWS Nissan is recalling nearly 308,000 vehicles in the U.S. to replace dangerous Takata airbag inflators that can explode and hurl shrapnel, the Detroit Free Press reports. The Nissan front passenger inflators are among 10 million from 14 different automakers that Takata is recalling. It’s the last recall that the bankrupt Takata agreed to in a 2015 settlement with U.S. safety regulators. The Nissan recall covers certain

2001 through 2003 Maximas, 2002 through 2006 Sentras, 2002 through 2004 Pathfinders, and 2007 through 2011 Versas. Also included are 2001 through 2004 Infiniti I30 and I35s, 2002 through 2003 QX4s, 2003 through 2008 FX35 and FX45s and 2006 through 2010 M35 and M45s. Dealers will replace the

inflators starting Feb. 10... Kraft Heinz brands Heinz and Planters return to the Super Bowl next month to promote ketchup and the new Heinz condiment HoneyRacha, MarketingDaily reports. In its first Super Bowl appearance since 2016, Heinz ketchup will air a 30-second spot in the game’s second quarter from Wieden+Kennedy, directed by Roman Coppola, the son of noted director Francis Ford Coppola... Amazon.com has told third-party sellers they are permitted to use FedEx for ground service, The Associated Press reports. The e-tail giant had banned sellers on its marketplace from using the shipping service about a month ago. FedEx ended its direct relationship with Amazon last year. For its part, Amazon says it now delivers most of the products sold on its site... Target surprised analysts by reporting sluggish holiday sales that missed the chain’s estimates, Chain Store Age reports. Target’s comparable sales inched up 1.4 percent in the combined November/December period, compared to growth of 5.7 percent a year ago. Comparable digital sales increased 19 percent during the holiday shopping season, driven primarily by the company’s same-day fulfillment services (Order Pick Up, Drive Up and Shipt), which together grew more than 50 percent from the comparable period last year... PepsiCo says it will give everyone in the U.S. a free Pepsi Zero Sugar if the final score of either team in this year’s Super Bowl teams ends in a zero. The company said in a press release that if such a score results, it will refund the price of the drink, up to $2.50, to anyone in the U.S. who purchases it from Feb. 2-4. It said that in 25 percent of previous Super Bowl games, at least one team finished with a score ending in zero... Shares of GameStop plunged earlier this week after the video game retailer announced that sales fell 27.5 percent during the holiday season. “We expected a challenging sales environment for the holiday season as our customers continue to delay purchases ahead of anticipated console launches in late 2020,” CEO George Sherman said. “However, the accelerated decline in new hardware and software sales coming out of Black Friday and throughout the month of December was well below our expectations, reflective of overall industry trends.”

PAGE 2 The Daily News of TV Sales @ www.spotsndots.com

NETWORK NEWS What turned out to be the finale of ABC’s Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time again dominated primetime, with Tuesday’s episode scoring a leading 1.9 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic and 13.51 million viewers. Jeopardy!’s fourth night of the special tournament featuring Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter was down three tenths from its previous episode Jan. 9 but hit a viewership high as Jennings was crowned as the best of the best. The multi-night event that premiered Jan. 7 has been a ratings dynamo for ABC, with the network already mulling a follow-up... NBC has greenlighted its second drama this cycle, handing a pilot order to La Brea. Written by David Appelbaum, in La Brea, when a massive sinkhole mysteriously opens in Los Angeles, it tears a family in half, separating mother and son from father and daughter. When part of the family find themselves in an unexplainable primeval world, alongside a disparate group of strangers, they must work to survive and uncover the mystery of where they are and if there is a way back home.

THIS AND THAT Comcast will put at least $15 million a year into startup accelerator SportsTech, which will invest in new sports-related companies belonging to one or more of eight categories, in an effort to link its media and sports league partnerships with emerging entities, the company said. The Wall Street Journal says the new property is aimed at giving Comcast an advantage in sports-related fields and technology such as smart stadiums and gambling... Consumer interest in Disney+ continued strong through the end of 2019, with the subscription streaming video platform’s app downloaded more than 31 million times in the fourth quarter, according to new data from SensorTower. An app download doesn’t automatically translate into a paid subscription, Media Play News notes. Netflix, as a matter of new policy, no longer reveals free trial subscriptions.

WORLD’S ‘HAPPIEST COUNTRY’ IS NOT AMERICA Finland was No. 1 out of 156 countries on the 2019 World Happiness Report, followed by Denmark, Norway, Iceland the Netherlands and Switzerland. The U.S. trailed at No. 19. The top countries ranked highly on all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance. “Governments set the institutional and policy framework in which individuals, businesses and governments themselves operate,” the authors wrote. “The links between the government and happiness operate in both directions: What governments do affects happiness and, in turn, the happiness of citizens in most countries determines what kind of governments they support.” The report polled 1,000 residents per country by research organization Gallup. Where necessary, Gallup seeks the permissions of national, regional and local governments. “Happier people are not only more likely to engage in politics and vote, but are also more likely to vote for incumbent parties,” the report concluded.

1/16/2020

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AVAILS Marquee Sports Network, the future exclusive television home of the Chicago Cubs in partnership with Sinclair Broadcast Group, is looking for a Manager, On-Air Promotion and Marketing — Chicago. The network will be the Chicago region’s exclusive network for fans to view live Cubs games beginning with the 2020 Major League Baseball season and will also feature extensive pre- and post-game coverage, exclusive Cubs content and other local

sports programming. Must have 5+ years of on-air promotions experience with portfolio of video content that demonstrates creative ability. CLICK HERE for more info or to apply now. EOE. Drug-free workplace. WKRN-TV News 2 in Nashville, Tenn., has an immediate opening for a Sales Account Executive. The Sales AE generates advertising revenue by meeting with local and regional business owners and decision makers,

discovering their specific company goals and challenges, and then creating strategic integrated marketing plans based on their individual needs using television, digital and multi-platform advertising. Minimum one year of experience in sales, preferably in media or digital sales, and a Bachelor’s degree required. CLICK HERE to apply. EOE. NPG of Oregon Inc., with an NBC and FOX affiliate in Bend, Ore., is currently looking for a General Manager to be responsible for leading the efforts in providing high-quality and financially viable television programming in a multi-affiliate operation. Experience as a General Manager is required, and a sales background and college degree is preferred. Please CLICK HERE for more info or to apply. Please include a cover letter with your resume when applying. EOE.

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NEXSTAR EYES NEWSCAST ON WGN AMERICA Nexstar Media Group is launching a three-hour nightly newscast on its flagship cable channel WGN America, drawing on local journalists for reports from its stations across the U.S. News Nation will broadcast from a newsroom and studio at WGN-TV in Chicago, and will launch this summer. Jennifer Lyons, who most recently was vice president and news director of the station, will oversee the newscast as vice president of news. “This will be a newscast that serves as a refuge for viewers across the country who are disenchanted with current news offerings and looking for fact-based news that’s delivered without bias or opinion,” Lyons said in a statement. Following its acquisition of Tribune Media last year, Nexstar became the largest station owner in the U.S., with 197 outlets. Perry Sook, Nexstar’s chairman, said their stations employ 5,400 journalists in 110 newsrooms, and that News Nation “will be prime-time content that WGN America owns and controls.”

The Daily News of TV Sales @ www.spotsndots.com PAGE 3

REPORT: TIKTOK U.S. GROWTH UP 375% IN 2019 TikTok saw explosive growth in the U.S. in 2019, growing 375 percent year-over-year in terms of time spent on the platform, according to App Annie’s State of Mobile report, which was reported by Ad Age. U.S. consumers spent some 85 million hours on TikTok in 2019, up from 15 million during the same time last year, says Lexi Sydow, senior market insights manager at App Annie, who adds that TikTok is both a social networking and entertainment app. App Annie says U.S. consumers spent more time on

TikTok with their smartphones than other popular video streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video. The company also looked at iPhone users and crossover between what video streaming apps consumers use beyond Netflix. Disney+ and Hulu saw the most crossover, with 24 percent and 21 percent open rates. Third, however, was TikTok (17%), ahead of established streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video (16%), Twitch (6%) and

HBO (2%), according to App Annie. According to the report, eight out of every 10 minutes spent on TikTok came from China. India was the second largest user of the app while the U.S. was third, App Annie says. All in, some 68 billion hours were spent in the TikTok app globally.

DONE DEALS Gray Television has announced the retirement of Rick Blangiardi, VP and GM of Hawaii News Now, which consists of KHNL (NBC) and KGMB (CBS). Blangiardi, who began his television career in 1977 at KGMB before stints with broadcasters in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, has led Hawaii News Now since 2009. Effective immediately, Katie Pickman moves up from director of sales to succeed Blangiardi. She has 20 years of experience in the media and has held various sales management positions. She has served as the director of sales for Hawaii News Now since 2017.

1/16/2020

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THE ALARM IS SOUNDING FOR THE TOY INDUSTRY Target didn’t have the strong holiday in the toy department that many expected, ringing alarm bells for the entire industry, CNBC reports. The retailer yesterday said its toy sales were about flat over the 2019 holidays compared with the prior year, though it said it continued to gain market share in toys, based on data from NPD Group. Target’s struggles in toys appear to be part of a much bigger set of problems that the industry is facing. While retailers during previous holiday seasons benefited from hot toys such as Hatchimals and Fingerlings, or a popular entertainment property, 2019 had neither. “While ‘Frozen II’ gave the toy industry a boost, the lack of other strong hits was often cited for lackluster industry performance,” Gerrick Johnson, analyst at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a research note last week. Then there is the lingering pain from the Toys R Us bankruptcy. Manufacturers such as Hasbro, Mattel and Spin Master are offering a smaller variety of toys and games. When Toys R Us shuttered, toymakers lost a lot of shelf space and also had huge inventory issues. Faced with this new reality, they streamlined their toy lines. “The chickens are coming home to roost from the Toys R Us bankruptcy,” said Richard Gottlieb, CEO of Global Toy Experts. “You cannot eliminate that many toys from the marketplace without it having an impact. A great loss of incremental and impulse sales.”

ADOBE: MOBILE KEY TO HOLIDAY SHOPPING Smartphones drove double-digit increases in online holiday revenue and traffic. According to the Adobe 2019 Holiday Recap Report, consumers spent $142.5 billion during November and December 2019, up 13.1 percent year-over-year. Smartphones drove nearly all (84%) of the online sales growth during the period, accounting for 36 percent of online revenue (up 21% year-over-year) and also accounting for 58 percent of traffic to retail sites (up 14% year-over-year). However, desktop still led smartphones in rate of completed checkouts per 100 visits, 5.9 vs. 3. Meanwhile, Adobe, whose findings were reported by Chain Store Age, said Cyber Weekend (Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday) produced 20 percent of overall holiday online sales, up 17.7 percent year-over-year. Also, Adobe analysis found the week before Thanksgiving experienced strong growth because the retail deals started earlier. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving continues to rival Small Business Saturday, with $2.9 billion vs. $3 billion in online revenue, respectively. In addition, buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) revenue was up 35 percent on average for the season. BOPIS hit a peak in the seven days leading up to Christmas, when revenue increased 55 percent. Large retailers grew online sales by more than 65 percent on average, and smaller ones grew online sales by 35 percent. Still, online revenue growth during the holidays continues to outpace overall retail growth (13.1% online vs. 4% overall).